Emmaus has filed a lawsuit against the owner of a property it says has been a years-long public nuisance.

The owner, Jason D. Wieder, recently admitted to animal cruelty charges stemming from a raid of the property last year.

The lawsuit filed in Lehigh County Court this week seeks a court order that would either force Wieder, 35, to make long-required repairs or give the borough the power to repair the home or demolish it.

The borough also is seeking to have the buildings at 56 S. Cherry St., declared unsafe for humans.

The borough "has used all available remedies at law over the last six years in an effort to correct the structural deficiencies," the lawsuit says. "[Wieder] has repeatedly chosen to ignore the law and has, instead, continued to pay fines issued by the district magistrate."

The lawsuit was filed days after Wieder pleaded guilty to several animal cruelty charges stemming from allegations of conditions inside the house after police served a warrant there in September.

Wieder is required to pay more than $10,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty on Jan. 26 at District Court in Emmaus to a dozen counts of animal cruelty.

As part of the plea, Wieder was ordered to pay $9,157 to the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for the care of dozens of birds and other animals seized from the property, in addition to a $50 fine for each of the animal cruelty offenses.

A PSPCA officer served a warrant at the property in September, eventually seizing 37 cockatiels, 10 cockatiel eggs, six dead snakes, three parrots, three cockatoos and three dogs, according to court records. The dead snakes — boa constrictors and pythons — were kept in plastic containers.

The borough's lawsuit outlines six years' worth of property maintenance violations and other issues it says has prompted multiple visits by and warnings from the borough's code enforcement officer, beginning in 2005 when Wieder was cited for allowing junk and trash to accumulate at the property.

During that period, the borough shut off water service to the property because Wieder failed to repair leaking pipes, the suit says. Code enforcement officer Jim Farnsworth eventually declared the property unfit for human occupancy and Mayor Winfield Iobst in 2011 declared it a public nuisance.

The same year, Farnsworth condemned the property due to the amount of animal feces and trash in the house, an ant infestation and the lack of running water. Court papers say police were called to the property in 2011 and were prevented from getting inside because of aggressive cats and an "overwhelming stench."

The animal cruelty case came to a head in 2014 when police were called to the property by neighbors hearing barking dogs inside.

Once inside, investigators found dogs in cages without food and water and feces scattered throughout the house in addition to structural deficiencies.

The borough, which says the home violates the International Property Maintenance Code, has asked that the property be brought into compliance within 30 days of an order.